Hidden moth

Chapter 355 Thunderclap at the Uninvited Door
There are two forms of observation: passive and active.

Human sensory information is mostly received passively. For example, seeing things or hearing sounds are all because the target emits light or sound wave signals, which are transmitted to the observer's eyes or ears.

In this situation, as long as one is careful to conceal oneself, the observer will often remain undetected.

Active observation is another type of observation, which requires the observer to emit signals, such as radar scanning or the echolocation of bats and dolphins.

To give a simple example, if you want to see things clearly in a dark cave, you need to turn on a flashlight to illuminate the surroundings. When you turn on the flashlight, things in the darkness will also notice you.

When a cultivator uses their divine sense to investigate, it is also a form of active observation. Ordinary people may not be able to sense it, but sorcerers who also possess divine sense, especially when they are on guard, can detect this disturbance.

As for the Hidden Moth, it's a bug. No matter who observes it passively or actively, it can detect and realize that they are being observed.

He Kao knew that someone was watching him, so he acted very patiently and just sat by the river fishing. He fished for a long time but didn't catch anything. He sat on a small stool as if he had entered a meditative state.

In fact, he had truly entered a meditative state, because his consciousness had left his body and his spirit had flown into the air.

Even when the spirit leaves the body, it can only reach the range of divine consciousness. In an open area, it can reach as far as nearly six kilometers. This is the limit that He Kao can currently achieve.

If you encounter complex terrain or obstacles, the straight-line distance will be greatly reduced.

Since the Yin spirit cannot leave the body beyond the range of divine sense, what is the point? Wouldn't it be the same to directly investigate with divine sense? Of course, these two are different. The most important difference lies in the passive versus active methods mentioned above.

Observing with the Yin spirit is mostly passive, like floating to a distant place in an invisible body to listen and see. For example, the Yin spirit can still "see" the moon.

No matter how powerful a person is, their divine sense cannot reach the moon, but their eyes can see it.

Because they can observe passively, in the Yin Spirit state, as long as they are not too close and pay attention to restraining their spirit and emotions, it is difficult for the target to detect them. This is the unique supernatural power of the Hidden Moth Sect.

He Kao's state at this moment was very peculiar, as if he were looking down on all living beings from the air with a gaze that was neither happy nor sad, devoid of any emotion... After floating for a while, he found his target on the other side of the river.

The night was cool by the river. The person was wearing a hoodie that covered their face, so their features were not visible from the air. All that could be confirmed was that it was a man, and He Kao did not want to get too close and be noticed.

Warlocks, especially high-level warlocks, have keen senses; even if a spirit is too close, it may make the other party feel something is wrong.

From that man's position, he could see He Kao on the opposite bank, his figure obscured by the weeds and bushes in the darkness, several hundred meters away. Under normal circumstances, He Kao would have almost no chance of noticing him.

Hiding in a place like that in the middle of the night, not fishing, not taking a dump, not using your phone, and not on a date, but just staring blankly in a swarm of mosquitoes, is clearly suspicious.

Just then, He Kao was suddenly startled, his consciousness instantly returning to his body, as a beam of light shone through the night accompanied by footsteps.

The visitor was a middle-aged man, a seasoned angler, who even brought a headlamp for illumination at night. He Kao was recognized by the man when he turned around.

"Oh dear, isn't this just a small test? How come you have this hobby at such a young age?"

The speaker was a neighbor from the town named Zhou Shanzhuang, who was a distant relative of He Kao. Two years ago, his child went to university, and with nothing to do in his spare time, he developed the bad habit of fishing and often went to the river at night.

He had been fishing in another spot but hadn't caught anything for a long time, so he decided to change his spot. He turned on his headlamp and moved over here, where he saw He Kao.

He Kao: "Uncle Zhuang, you're fishing again... I just fish occasionally to relax."

Zhou Shanzhuang glanced at the plastic bucket next to him: "Did you just get here? You haven't served a single fish yet?"

He Kao smiled and stood up, saying, "My luck is really not good today. You can take your time fishing. I'll be going now. I have things to do tomorrow."

In that brief moment of distraction, the watcher on the other side of the river had disappeared. He Kao packed his things and left, and saw Zhou Shanzhuang's van parked by the roadside.

Zhou Shanzhuang bought several shops in the town's farmers' market to do business. His van could carry people, and with the last row of seats removed, it could also be used to load goods.

He Kao got into his car, and then he went on another spiritual journey, but he couldn't find the lurking person anymore. Either the other party had already left, or they had used some means to block his senses.

Excluding the Hidden Moth Sect, among the seven major sects, the Heart Plate Sect sorcerers are the most skilled at tracking, while the Xing Shen Sect sorcerers are the most difficult to track.

The methods of the Xing Shen Sect are bizarre. They are not only good at perceiving and manipulating emotions, but also at deceiving people's senses and are proficient in various illusions. The sixth-level cultivators of the Xing Shen Sect are revered as illusionists, which gives a glimpse into their abilities.

The illusionist Li Xiuyuan once said that the most skillful illusion is to be consistent with the real scene in reality, only to modify and hide certain minor details, such as hiding oneself from the real background.

When the Xiaomeng ambushed Mei Guyu outside Pugang Town, the illusionist Grossi used this move. Mei Guyu's response was to use brute force to overcome skill, unleashing a rain of swords directly. No matter how powerful the illusion magic was, it couldn't withstand the rain of divine swords.

He Kao is not Mei Guyu, and it is not convenient for him to use this trick at this moment.

The reason why Xing Shenmen cultivators are the hardest to track is not only because they are good at hiding, but also because they can sense the emotions of those around them when they are being tracked.

By secretly scanning the surrounding crowd with their divine sense, they can detect the feeling of being watched or followed if someone is monitoring or tracking them, thus identifying the tracker.

So today, He Kao pretended to be fishing, using his spirit to fly through the air to find someone. Even if that person was very alert, surely they wouldn't be constantly paying attention to the empty night sky?

Having lost track of the other party, He Kao was not in a hurry. After returning home, he washed up and rested as usual... In fact, he was paying attention to another person, trying to confirm some of his guesses, namely Zhou Shanzhuang, whom he had met by chance while fishing.

He deliberately used mud as bait to go fishing today, which was obviously not for fishing. His behavior was suspicious and worth paying attention to... Then Zhou Shanzhuang came, the two exchanged a few words, and He Kao left.

To a discerning eye, this scene would naturally lead them to believe that he went fishing by the river to meet Zhou Shanzhuang.

The fact that the two were meeting in such a clandestine manner suggests they were exchanging important items or intelligence, making Zhou Shanzhuang's identity highly suspicious. If the surveillance team noticed this, they might also investigate Zhou Shanzhuang. This was a scheme set up by He Kao, a kind of "threading the pearl" scheme used in the old days of the martial arts world.

The so-called "threading the pearl" means making the other party think they have discovered an important clue, and then follow this clue to investigate, only to find that they have fallen right into the trap set by the mastermind. The essence of this is to think from the other party's perspective.

Zhou Shanzhuang's appearance was not pre-arranged by He Kao; he simply acted as the opportunity presented itself.

Zhou Shanzhuang didn't get home until after 2 a.m. His wife had already locked the bedroom door from the inside, so he slept in another room. Not long after he fell asleep, someone quietly appeared in the yard.

The security door lock was no match for this person; the intruder opened the door with a simple touch, without making a sound... Just then, a loud bang came from mid-air, waking up many people who were fast asleep nearby.

Something fell from the sky and exploded before it even hit the ground; it was a bamboo thunderbolt.

The spirit cannot carry anything when it leaves the body, but He Kao himself can teleport to the sky, as long as he teleports to another location before falling, thus achieving a very strange intermittent flight.

If he is observed or his teleportation is interrupted, He Kao can still glide down using his magic weapon, the Moth Wing.

He Kao had just teleported to the sky above Zhou Shanzhuang's courtyard, and then teleported to another place, leaving a lit bamboo thunderbolt in the air for it to fall naturally.

The bamboo thunderbolts were specially made by him for self-defense when he had not yet mastered the cultivation. Now he still has a few left, which are all stored in a secret base deep in Gushan. He never thought he would be able to use them today.

The bamboo thunder exploded in mid-air. The flying fragments certainly couldn't hurt a fifth-level cultivator, but with such a commotion, it was obviously impossible for that person to sneak in and secretly investigate the situation.

With a loud bang, almost all the dogs in the town started barking, and many car alarms went off.

The man was startled and didn't know what had happened. He instinctively thought he had been ambushed, but he couldn't find the attacker. The attacker disappeared in a flash.

He moved with incredible speed, like a fleeting black shadow, distorting others' perception of light; even if someone saw him, it was just a fleeting moment.

He Kao's spirit hovered on the top of the paulownia tree, watching from afar until the person disappeared into the distance. He did not rush to chase after him, nor was he in a hurry to do so.

He didn't intend to take down the man himself, as that might expose something he shouldn't. He simply wanted to lure the man out to confirm his identity, and now that goal had been achieved.

Through his actions just now, he had enough opportunity to see the person's appearance clearly and remember the person's aura. In the future, as long as it is within the range of his divine sense, he can find it with his unique supernatural power.

In the early hours of the morning, in a hotel in Xi'an, Hu Weidong, who was sleeping next to Julie, received a phone call. He frowned slightly and said, "Mr. Huo Qing, it's already late at night. Is there anything urgent you need?"

We met twice yesterday, and I just arrived in Xi'an before dawn when I received another phone call!

He Kao: "It can be confirmed that Helali, a fifth-level cultivator from the Xiaomeng, has also arrived at Qiyuan."

Hu Weidong: Are you sure?

He Kao: "I just discovered his whereabouts."

Hu Weidong actually breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank you for letting me know! He's still in Qiyuan. It seems he didn't follow me to Xijing."

He Kao: "You don't seem very worried?"

Hu Weidong retorted, "It's the unknown that's worrying. Now that the situation is clear, why would I be afraid of such a scoundrel? Besides, what should I be worried about? He's a grown man with a fifth-level cultivation. Am I afraid he'll run away?"

He Kao: "Shouldn't we investigate why such a skilled person has followed you to the Eastern Kingdom?"

Hu Weidong countered with another question: "Mr. Huo Qing, will the sect restrict your personal freedom?"

He Kao didn't respond, so Hu Weidong continued, "The Xiaomeng Alliance will not restrict the personal freedom of its disciples. They can go wherever they want, and coming to the Eastern Kingdom will not violate any of its rules."

He Kao: "I'm just saying hello to you."

Hu Weidong: "Thank you for reminding me! But if he wasn't targeting me, I have no reason to punish him, or even to investigate him privately."

Mr. Huo Qing should know that cultivators value their privacy highly.

After hanging up the phone, He Kao knew he couldn't count on Hu Weidong. At least, this Mr. Mi wouldn't openly take action against Hailari, which made him somewhat disappointed.

Neither the Technique Sect nor the Free Alliance can restrict the personal freedom of their disciples; they are merely organizations that pass on techniques.

For example, He Kao himself can go wherever he wants, unless he encounters something related to magic, he has no obligation to report... so it's the same for Helali.

Helari came to Qiyuan without violating any of the sect's rules, so no one could do anything to him because of it, unless he did something he shouldn't have.

Objectively speaking, Hailali's covert investigation of Luo Mingzhi was conducted carefully without leaving any trace, and she did not harm anyone. Even Luo Mingzhi herself was unaware of it, so this was not considered a violation of regulations.

However, from He Kao's perspective, this person's other actions were taboo. Not only was Hailali secretly monitoring him, but after he met with Zhou Shanzhuang late at night, Hailali immediately went to investigate Zhou Shanzhuang…

Such behavior has crossed a certain boundary, but it has only violated He Kao's taboo.

He Kao thought for a moment and then contacted Li Xiuyuan, wanting to arrange a meeting with Elder Li at Longlin Slope. He Kao naturally went there immediately, and after a while, Li Xiuyuan finally appeared from the darkness.

**
(End of this chapter)